Carriage-driving mechanism



(No Mael.)

2 Sheets-.Sheet 1.-

D. Wfl),ODSQN. CARRIAGE DRIVING MEGHANISM.`

No. 402,233. Paten-ted Apr. so,4 1.88.9.

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ively, these said views being taken at about the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DA'RIEN WV. DODSON, O F W'ILKESfBARR, PENN SYLVANA.

CARRIAGE-DRIVING ME-CHANISIVI.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.'402,233, dated April 30, 1889.

Application filed March 30, 1887.

.To all whom/ t may concern:

Be it known that I, DARIEN W. DoDsoN, a citizen of ythe United States, residing at -WilkesBarr, in the county of Luzerne and. State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements vin Carriage- Driving Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of carriages for machin es which are known as selfacting, whose actuating mechanism operates to automatically return the carriage when this has completed'a given forward stroke or travel.

My invention has for its object to provide a carriage of that class especially adapted for use in typewritin g machines and in other machines whose carriages have a reciprocating travel through a fixed (or adju'stably-xed) distance.,

To this end the invention consists in the novel features and combinations hereinafter set forth. .Y

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part ofthis specification, Figure l is a top view of a carriage and its operatin g mech-Y anism embodying my present improvementsf Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the said ycarriage and mechanism drawn in projection to Figi. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same, also drawn in projection to Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. l, illustrating how one of the switches maybe dispensed with. Fig. 5 illusf trates howrthe carriage may be mounted in a modified manner within the scope of my in,- vention. Fig. G is an end view of that form of the carriage which is shown v in Fig. 5. Figs. 7, 8, 9, and l0 are top views similar to Fig. 1, showing the carriage and mechanism in four successive stages of its operation. Figs. 11, 12, 13, and la@ are cross-sectional views of the same at said four stages, respectsame point in each vcase and drawn in projection to said Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10, respectively.

Similar characters designate like parts in all'the figures.

Referring to Figs. l to 3 and 7 to 14, all inclusive, .B designates a base or bedA plate, which is supposed to be a part of some ma- 'serial No. 232,945. (No model.)

chine-frame. C is Va reciprocatable carriage constructed to slide (or otherwise move) longitudinally on said bed. VA driving-shaft, S, journaled in the bed or frame carries a driving pinion or gear, P, which gear is supposed to be connected by said shaft with actuating mechanism, (not shown,) whereby said gear is driven always in one (forward) directionas shown, 'for instance, by the arrow thereon in Fig. l. Said movement maybe intermittent, and each ti me the carriage moves through the place of one tooth or cog, this being the proper arrangement when mypresent improvements are applied A to the operating of type-writer carriages, for which purpose said improvements are especially designed. Said gear meshes with a rack, as R, which is mounted on and parallel to the movement of said carriage in some well-known manner, whereby it may have a lateral movement toward and from its driving-gear. For this purpose I prefer some ordinary parallel ruler movement, since this moves the rack substantially equally at all points in its length. Of such movements (apparatuses) now in common use and available for the purpose I prefer that shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3, consisting in two angle-levers, 2 and 3, and the eonnecting-rod eL, all pivoted together in a well-known manner, which will be fully understood from the drawings. For operating said rack to throw the same into mesh and out of mesh with said gear P, I employ a rack-switching apparatus consisting of a fixed stud or shuttle, attached to the frame, a shuttle-guide on the rack, (or the-l shuttle and guide maybe arranged vice versa,) and4 springs constructed and arranged to Athrow at the proper times the guides past the ends of said shuttle. The shuttle is or may be held in place by the fixed bracket 6, so that when the rack is in. mesh with gear P, as in Fig. l, the guide 7 (in this case fixed on said rack) will be directly in front of said shuttle, land thereby securely 'hold said rack and gear in mesh. Two switclrarins, I0 and 12, similar in form and function, are carried on the rack and are oppositely disposed to said guide. These arms are shown to be carried on the ends of springs 9 and 1l, respectively, which are fixed to the rack at 13 and 15. Said arms are also set inclined IOO about as shown, and are yieldingly held (by said springs or otherwise) against the ends of guide 7. The outer end of the arm 10 or 12, however, has preferably a short part, 14, about parallel to guide 7, for a purpose hereinafter explained. The hooks S are designed (one of them) to serve as a stop to limit the returnstroke of the carriage when no other stop is provided or when some other stop than the driving-pinion is deemed necessary; but in practice such hook may be dispensed with and some other device substituted therefor, if any substitute be required.

The operation of the apparatus as thus constructed is as follows: The several parts being situated as illustrated in Fig. 1, the proper forward movement of gear P moves forward the carriage to its position in Fig. 7 until the shuttle 5, reacting against guide 7, forces back arm 12 and rests between said guide and the straight part 1l of said arm, as here shown, so that said arm shall not at this moment exert any cndwise force on the shuttle and carriage. A slight additional forward movement of said carriage now carries said guide past said shuttle, and the spring-arm 12, bearing on said shuttle, carries back the rack and guide, as in Fig. 8, thereby unmeshing the rack and gear and permitting the carriage to be moved backward. This movement is to be accomplished by some well-known means (not herein shown) for that purpose-as, for instance, a spiral spring or a cord and weight or other device commonly employed for returning the carriage of a typewriter or other machine. On the carriage approaching the end of its return-stroke the opposite arm, 10, bears against the shuttle in the opposite direction, as in Fig. 9, and at the end of said stroke forces the guide 7 past said shuttle, as in Fig. 10, and the rack into mesh with gear P, as here shown, after which the forward movement of the carriage may go on, as before. Thus by means of the rack-switching apparatus the carriage becomes in a sense self acting, and will be automatically returned whenever its given forward stroke is completed, the extent of this stroke depending of course on the length of guide 7.

In Fig. 4 I have shown how one of the switcharms may be omitted, a spring, 17, being provided and so connected as to normally hold the rack out of (or into) mesh with the gear. In this case, however, the power of the other switch-arm, 10, must be sufficient to operate the rack, and, in addition, to overcome said spring 17. Otherwise the operation of this form of the mechanism is the same as above set forth.

In Figs. 5 and G one modified arrangement of the mechanism is shown. Here the carriage is mounted to slide and swing on a rod or track, 1S, the rack-switching apparatus being on the under side of the carriage and the shuttle 5 fixed in the bed B. In this form of the apparatus the lateral movement of the carriage is equivalent to the lateral movement of the rack thereon in the preceding form. By this arrangement the use of a parallel motion to carry the rack is avoided.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml 1. The combination, with the reciprocatable carriage of a machine, of a driving-gear, a rack carried on said carriage and meshing with said gear and having a lateral movement relative to said gear, a fixed shuttle, a shuttle-guide, and rackswitching apparatus, substantially as described, operating to throw said guide past the ends of said shuttle, and thereby throw the rack into mesh and out of mesh, all substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with the reci procatable carriage of a machine, and with a drivinggear located beside said carriage, of a rack carried on said carriage and meshing with said gear and having a lateral movement relative to said gear, of the fixed stud or shutf tle, the guide on said rack, and the yieldingly-held switch-arm carried on said rack and operating to force the guide past the end of said shuttle, all substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the reciprocatable carriage, as C, of a machine, of gear I), rack R, carried by a parallel motion on the carriage, and a shuttle, shuttle-guide, and switch-arm, all substantially as shown and described.

I fi. The combination, in a mechanism of the class specified, of the gear and rack, a fixed stud or shuttle, 5, guide 7, and an inclined switch-arm having a part, as 14, about parallel to said guide, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination, with a lnechanism of the class specified, having guide 7 and shuttle 5, of the switch-arm having hook 8, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

DARIEN W. DODSON.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS II. RICHARDs, GEO. A. REYNOLDS.

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